Internet is “completely over”: Prince

Facebook, online banking and YouTube? Yawn. The Internet is so yesterday, according to pop music legend Prince, who in a recent interview characterized the World Wide Web as a big, fat, soon-to-pass fad.

“Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good,” he added. “They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

The interview was in anticipation to the release of his new album 20TEN, which readers of the British publication will be able to get for free inside this Saturday’s paper edition.

In fact, that’s the only way anyone will be able to get a copy of the album. His newest recordings won’t be available anywhere for downloading, including iTunes or even his own Web site, which he recently shut down.

“I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it,” Prince told The Daily Mirror.

Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post pointed out that Prince is not the first performer to scoff at online music distribution methods – The Beatles, AC/DC and Def Leppard are some of the bands that you can’t find at the iTunes or Amazon stores today.

Pegoraro notes: “… The artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince does have company in forgetting that ignoring the Internet will simply cede the online market to other distribution channels–as in, the unlicensed and illegal kind that don’t yield them any return, but which many people will resort to when they’re not given a legal alternative online.”